According to The Youth Times, Hangzhou Beingmate Group will take the lead in China by being the first to offer an 18-month long breast-feeding leave for its female workers to ensure the health of both the workers and their newborn babies.
It is learned that all female employees who meet the company's family planning policy are eligible to enjoy the favorable policy. Women who are approved to take the leave will be asked to join the company's training scheme and to share their experience in nurturing a baby with the company's employees.
At present, female workers in China are usually given a three-month long holiday as maternity leave. Beingmate hopes that other Chinese companies will follow its example in offering similar policies to their employees but this seems to be unlikely as some companies have already expressed the opinion that it would be too costly to offer such a long holiday to employees.